KNT January Update

There’s been a slow and sporadic drip-drip of Korean national team news leading up to a World Cup year, including base camp, friendlies and other. Let’s go through some of the news and catch up ahead of the three low-level friendlies in the next couple of weeks.

January training camp:

The KNT goes to Turkey! Shin Tae-yong is a fan of these kinds of training camp settings and will be taking the non-Europe based players to Turkey for a training camp. Spots will (maybe) be on the line and it will be an opportunity for Shin to fine-tune preparation alongside the rest of the coaching staff.

Only Jamaica should really pose a relative test – Moldova and Latvia are low-tier European sides that should see a pretty comfortable blow-out (hopefully).

All games will be played in Turkey and broadcast on Korean television.

Poland and Northern Ireland Friendlies:

The next occasion for the senior team and the whole domestic pool to meet up will be the March international break, in which the KNT will likely be able to schedule two matches. In the 2014 cycle, Greece were the opponents. This time around, it’s another pair of European sides, Poland and Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland are another European team that fall into the more prototypical so-called ‘English game’ category, so this will be another test for the centrebacks and defense core to play against physical opposition. Their biggest strength – the dead ball. Set pieces are key to N. Ireland success. Though ranked in the top 30 in the world, Northern Ireland missed out on the World Cup after succumbing to Switzerland in the playoffs on a doubtful penalty decision.

The Poles shielded themselves throughout the past years, opting not to play friendlies in order to play the FIFA Rankings system and remain in the top 7 (which they did) giving them a top seed in the draw. With Japan in their group, it will be their opportunity to play an Asian side.

From a Korean standpoint, dealing with Lewandowski may give the defense a chance to prepare for Berg and the Swedes? (I don’t know much about Poland). In any case it will be an away fixture in Chorzow, Poland on the 27th of March, which will give the Koreans a test for redemption after the nightmare on the road in Moscow.

Northern Ireland (Mar 24th, 10am EDT, Mar 25th 11am KST)

Poland (Mar 27th, 2.45pm EDT, Mar 28th 3.45am KST)

The other teams:

Sweden will play Chile on March 24th (potentially a test for Mexico), their second friendly is yet to be determined. They will have training camp friendlies in the UAE against Estonia and Denmark in early January, if you want to scout the enemy. (Take with grain of salt, the January call-ups are Sweden-based and not indicative whatsoever of their A-team).

Germany will use their March friendlies against Spain and Brazil, fellow World Cup favorites.

Mexico has a training camp friendly lined up against Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 31st, before the whole national selection will be available for their tune-ups against Iceland and Croatia. (Scandinavian opponent presumably to draw conclusions ahead of the Sweden clash… otherwise do we play like Croatia? Perhaps just a generic friendly.)

Base camp:

Korea will be based out of St. Petersburg for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, staying at the New Peterhof Hotel and training at the Spartak Stadium facilities. Seol Korea on Big Soccer Korea explains that it wasn’t the KNT’s top choice:

Though Moscow is closer to the locations of the Korean games, Kim Da-eop of the KFA explained that they wanted to provide a restful environment for the players that “felt like home” and the high traffic problems in Moscow meant they opted for the longer plane flights of St. Petersburg.

Yonhap explains:

St. Petersburg is approximately 1,140 kilometers away from Nizhny Novgorod, and 1,824 km away from Rostov-on-Don. It’s 1,540 km from Kazan.

The actual plane flights are 90 minutes from St. Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod for the first game, 2 hours and 15 minutes for the voyage to Rostov-on-Don and 2 hours for the final group match against Germany in Kazan. I’m no expert, but probably only the flight to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad would have had a big effect in swaying the decisions for any team concerned about travel teams. No games in the middle of Amazon here.

Nonetheless, apparently Shin Tae-yong was very involved in the decision…

“For our residence, Shin has checked every detail, from the color of the curtains to carpet quality.” -the KFA

Off-topic: Chung Hyeon – what a guy! Into the quarters of the Australian Open & after beating Novak Djokovic no less! Good sporting vibes for 2018 – a BIG sports year for Korea!

K League Classic

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Jeonbuk Motors

34

2

Suwon Bluewings

25

3

Jeju United

24

4

Gyeongnam

22

5

Sangju Sangmu

22

6

Gangwon

20

7

Ulsan

20

8

Pohang Steelers

19

9

Seoul

15

10

Jeonnam Dragons

12

11

Incheon United

8

12

Daegu

7

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

May 20, 2018

Seoul

0 - 4

Jeonbuk Motors

Pohang Steelers

1 - 1

Suwon Bluewings

Sangju Sangmu

0 - 0

Jeju United

Incheon United

1 - 1

Ulsan

May 19, 2018

Jeonnam Dragons

1 - 1

Daegu

Gyeongnam

0 - 1

Gangwon

English Premier League

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Manchester City

100

2

Manchester United

81

3

Tottenham Hotspur

77

4

Liverpool

75

5

Chelsea

70

6

Arsenal

63

7

Burnley

54

8

Everton

49

9

Leicester City

47

10

Newcastle United

44

11

Crystal Palace

44

12

AFC Bournemouth

44

13

West Ham United

42

14

Watford

41

15

Brighton & Hov…

40

16

Huddersfield Town

37

17

Southampton

36

18

Swansea City

33

19

Stoke City

33

20

West Bromwich Albion

31

Hwang Heechan

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Red Bull Salzburg

83

Bundesliga

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

1

Augsburg 1907

0

2

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

0

3

Bayern München

0

4

Borussia Dortmund

0

5

Borussia Mönchengladbach

0

6

Eintracht Frankfurt

0

7

Fortuna Düsseldorf

0

8

SC Freiburg

0

9

Hannover 96

0

10

Hertha BSC

0

11

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

0

12

1. FSV Mainz 05

0

13

Nürnberg

0

14

RB Leipzig

0

15

Schalke 04

0

16

Stuttgart

0

17

Werder Bremen

0

Kwon Changhoon

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

#

Team

P

11

Dijon

48

Search for:

The Tavern of the Taeguk Warriors is an online community of Korean football/soccer supporters. We bring you news, analysis and opinion in English about Korean players abroad, youth players and the K League.